


Send in the Clowns

by antpower



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Circus, Derek is a clown, M/M, but it isn't, it's just kind of cheesey, this was supposed to be funny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-29
Updated: 2014-04-29
Packaged: 2018-01-21 05:02:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1538582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antpower/pseuds/antpower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek is a clown.  He's not very good at it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Send in the Clowns

**Author's Note:**

> So, I had this idea for a circus AU where the pack were all working at Uncle Peter's Splendiferous Circus of Wonder and Derek had fled there for safety after being hunted by the Argents. It was going to be plotty and featuring the many hijinx of clown!Derek and trapeze artist!Stiles, but then it started getting super long and needed loads more research on circus life, and I wanted to post it for AU week on [the Sterek Network](http://sterek-network.tumblr.com/) on tumblr, and there was no way I was going to finish in time. So I wrote this instead, which is basically a super condensed version. I kind of like it better, but let me know if you're interested in reading like 10k+ more from this universe :)

It feels like failure of a different sort than Derek’s used to when he finishes his routine and looks up to see the stony faces glaring back at him.

“That was literally the worst thing I have ever seen,” Stiles says, giving Derek that smirk that’s been driving him crazy ever since he came back to Uncle Peter’s stupid circus.

Derek wants to angrily cross his arms over his chest but there are too many ruffles and pom-poms in the way.

“You do realize the main function of a clown is to make people laugh?” Stiles launches himself up from where he’s sitting on the steps of the costume wagon, catches his foot on the bottom step and stumbles his way over to Derek, grabbing hold of Derek’s bicep to steady himself. His fingers are warm through the cheap fabric of Derek’s costume.

“ _They_ think I’m funny,” Derek says, nodding over to where Isaac, Erica and Boyd are snickering behind their hands at the edge of the space they’ve cleared out to rehearse.

“Dude.” Stiles gives him a thorough once-over. “Buddy. Bro.”

And Derek gets it, he does. He looks ridiculous. He’s wearing a bright yellow, purple-polka-dotted clown suit that’s three sizes too small for him. His clown hat is too big and the pom-pom on top keeps flopping in his eyes. And he’s just not a funny guy. He knows this is Uncle Peter’s way of punishing him for being away for so long after the fire, and that if he wants to stay he has to make the best of it, he just doesn’t know _how_. He snatches the hat off his head and crushes it inside his fist.

“Hey,” says Stiles, ducking his head right up in Derek’s face so that Derek has to meet his eyes. “You can do this. You were awesome on the unicycle earlier, and Erica tells me that back in the day you were the best acrobat she’s ever seen. Boyd said your backflips were a thing of beauty.” Stiles voice has gone soft, and he steps away from Derek to nod at Scott and make some complicated hand gesture that Scott obviously understands, because Scott stops running through the clown act with Kira and starts herding everyone toward the food tent.

“Boyd said that?” Derek asks.

Stiles nods. “Yeah, big guy, of course he did.” He takes the hat out of Derek’s hand and stuffs it back onto his head, and then he grabs Derek by the wrists and starts shaking his arms up and down. “You know that being a clown is basically the same as being an acrobat, you just need to loosen up a bit. Smile more. Try not to look so much like one of those horror movie clowns.”

“Why aren’t you a clown?” Derek asks. He’s kind of transfixed by the movement of their arms, by the gentle hold Stiles has on him, the way Stiles’ long fingers wrap around him like they belong there.

Stiles snorts. “Are you kidding? You’ve seen my level of co-ordination, I’d kill somebody.”

Derek isn’t sure he believes him. He’s seen Stiles on the trapeze, the graceful arc of his body through the air, and he wonders if there’s anything at all that Stiles can’t do if he really wants to.

“I am funny enough though,” Stiles says.

Derek snorts. Stiles drops his arms and, for a moment, Derek feels untethered, as if without Stiles holding him there, he’ll float away. He wants to grab ahold of Stiles, to somehow bind the two of them together in a way that’s unbreakable. It’s a sudden feeling, and yet not, like something he’s been waiting for without realizing.

“Come on,” Stiles says. “Try the tiny car again before we go eat.”

“I hate the tiny car,” Derek grumbles, but as Stiles grabs his hand and tugs him forward, Derek thinks that maybe he really can do this. He’s a terrible clown and maybe he’ll never be any good at it, but maybe that’s okay, because Stiles is laughing, and for the first time in so, so long, Derek feels like maybe there is a place for him after all.


End file.
